The Creative Minds of Bottled Shipwrights:Exploring an Endless World of Mediums

"So, just what is it that you like so much about building ships in bottles?" For me, this question is often the most enjoyable to answer allowing me to express my creative freedom, as opposed to the all too common question of "how did you get that ship in that bottle?" That question, though easy to answer, is frustration to some extent. You dictate a series of steps, almost set in stone, like a science project, lacking that creative spice, which is the real reason we miniature model builders spend hours upon hours of careful focus and attention, stressing our eyes to the extremes, and testing our patience to the level of near insanity! So, what do we like about it? Now, that is a question to answer! Why, it’s exploring the world of critical problem solving. Figuring out just what medium to use, how to apply it, and the distance you can delve into the miniature world with basically no rules to restrict you. Our craft, allows us to explore a world of mimicry, turning a toothpick into a mast, a watch gear into a steering wheel, a shard of glass into the lens of a lighthouse, or even turning a medical injection needle into a stanchion of a railing. And once you’ve figured out what material to use, you’ve got to determine what you’ll use to put it together, whether it be glue, clear nail polish, epoxy, a length of string, a couple dowels, or a combination of those things. This is what it means to build ships in bottles, and the reason why, I’m so addicted. Over the course of my building, I've created a list of tips, tricks and material usage. These are ideas to explore. You'll come up with many of them on your own, but I have found, that aside from building, the best part about ships in bottles is sharing with other builders, just how you created what you did.Some Tools:• Create a tiny hoop at the tip of a piece of thin wire, which is attached to a flexible, long, piece of metal (clothes hanger length, flexible shish kebab stick, etc.). This will be used to suspend the super glue so that it can be applied to your object. The smaller the hoop, the smaller the quantity of glue.

• Make a pair of long tweezers with a coat hanger, but make them even better by strapping on two small, wooden slats (shaped the way you like). These are better than those long model store tweezers which in the end are too bulky to really use inside the bottle.

Handling and Using Glues:• I use super glue to attach nearly everything on the ship, but it can be messy if you squeeze it straight from the bottle. So, always dab super glue with a paper towel. I cut paper towels into small squares and have a pile of them accessible at all times when working.• Soak fine veneers in super glue before cutting with a blade (exacto knife). This helps to avoid splitting down the grain of the wood and breaking of very fine pieces.

• Use super glue to stiffen lines so that they hold their shape in a bottle. For instance, allow the sheets to your sails to absorb the glue so that it becomes stiff. In this way, you can set your sails further out from the hull. This allows you to display a boat sailing downwind.

Random Materials and Their Uses: • Collect that flexible plastic that many items are packaged in from the stores. Keep the flat sections and use these for making windows or anything that needs to be transparent on your models. (Note: do not glue these with super glue, it will create a horrible haze on its surface!)

These windows are transparent plastic. It's a nice affect!

• Watercolor paper is a great medium for mimicking wood. It will take stain well, is flexible, and can be stiffened with super glue. I’ve used it to make the ribs of a canoe once before and rub rails on large boats.

I'm certain to have more tips in the future, but until then, I've provided you with some ideas to think about.